Mounting plate for refrigerator control



United States Parent O MOUNTIN G PLATE FOR REFRIGERATOR CON TROL Leslie L. P'uehs, Louisville, Ky., assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Application July 7, 1955, Serial No. 520580 1 Claim. (Cl. 200-168) The present invention relates to household refrigerators and is more particularly concerned with a mounting plate for mounting on the inner liner of a refrigerator an adjustable control for controlling the operation of the refrigeration system.

Most household refrigerators include means for controlling the operation of the refrigerating system so that the cabinet temperature can be maintained within a desired range. For convenience and because the control is responsive to a temperature condition within the refrigerator storage compartment, the box or housing containing the electrical components of the control mechanism is ordinarily disposed between the liner forming the storage compartment of the refrigerator and the outer wall of the cabinet structure With the control dial or wheel positioned within the storage compartment. In order to prevent moisture collecting on the liner from flowng into the control and interferring with the proper operation thereof, the mounting arrangements heretofore employed have ordinarily included relatively expensive gaskets or equivalent sealing means for scaling the joints between the control mounting plate and the liner wall.

The present invention relates to and has as its principal object the provision of an improved control mounting plate for a household refrigerator which is of simple and low cost Construction and which does not r`equire a gasket or equivalent sealing means to protect the Operating mechansm of the control from mosture collecting on the compartment liner.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds and the features of novelty which characterize the invention will be pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming part of this specification.

In carrying out the objects of the invention, there is provided a mounting plate for supporting a control box between the liner and the outer wall of a refrigerator cabinet and for mounting the box on the liner in such a manner that mosture collecting on the compartment liner cannot flow into the control box. The mouuting plate comprises a main body portion adapted to cover or close an opening in the liner through which the control box is inserted during the assembly of the refrigerator. This main body portion includes side and bottom edges adapted to overlie the side and bottom edges of the opening and an integral upper rearwardly ofiset portion of substantially the same width as the opening extending through the opening in overlapping engagement with the rear surface of the liner along the upper edge of the opening. The main body portion includes a suitable aperture for the control Operating shaft which extends into the interior of the cabinet. A flange around this opening directs condensate flowing down the inner face of the cabinet liner from flowing through the aperture into the control box proper.

For a better Understanding of the invention reference may be had to accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is an elevational view of a preferrcd embodiment of the present invention; and

Fig. 2 is a sectional view along line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

There is shown portions of a refrigerator cabinet including a side wall 1 and a rear wall 2 forming part of a liner of a refrigerator storage compartment. This liner is spaced from the outer walls of the cabinet structure such as the side wall 3 and the space between these outer walls and the liner is filled with suitable heat insulation 4. lt isto be understood that an evaporator or cooling unit forming part of a refigerating system (not shown) is provided within the storage compartment formed by the liner walls for maintaining the storage compartment at the desired refrigerating temperatures. In order to maintain the desired temperatures within the storage compartment, there is provided control means responsive to a temperature condition within the storage compartment for controlling the operation of the refrigerating system.

The electrical Components of such a control including an electrical switch means are ordinarily housed within a suitable box or housing 6 and the operation of the switch means is efiected by a bellows 7 operatively connected by a tube 8 to a feeler bulb (not shown) positioned within the storage compartment. As the operation of a refrigerator control of this type is well known, it is not believed necessary for the purpose of the present invention to describe in detail either the mechanism or the operation thereof. F or setting the control to maintain the desired Operating temperatures within the storage compartment, there is provided a control knob or wheel 9 afiixed to a shat't 10 and as the control wheel 9 is adapted to be positiored within the storage compartment a suitable opening 11 is normally provided in the liner wall. To facilitate the mountng of the entire control within the space between the liner and outer cabinet Wall, there is provided an opening 11 sufiiciently large so that the control box 6 can be inserted into the space between the liner wall 1 and the outer wall 3 through this opening. In accordance with the present invention this opening is of generally rectanglar shape including a horizontal upper edge 12, side edges 13 and 14, and a bottom edge 15.

For positionng the control box between the liner and the outer wall of the refrgerator cabinet and to support the box on the liner, there is provided a mounting plate 16 adapted to cover and close the opening 11 in the liner wall 1. The main body portion of this plate includes side edges 17 and 18 and a bottom edge portion 19 which.overlap the inner surface of the liner Wall 1 surrounding the side and bottom edges of the opening 11. In order to prevent condensate on the liner wall 1 from flowing between the mountng plate 16 and the liner wall 1 onto the control box 6 there is provided as part of the mounting plate 16 an upper rearwardly ofiset portion 21 which is substantially of the same width as the width of the opening 11 and which extends through the aperture and upwardly behind the liner wall 1 in overlapping engagement therewith.

Any mosture collecting on the liner wall 1 above the control and flowing downwardly along the wall in the direction of the control is prevented from owing onto the control box 6 by this otfset portion 21 of the mounting plate. Moisture collecting on the upper edge 12 of the opening 11 will flow onto the outer or exposed surface of the mounting plate downwardly along the exposed surface thereof and again onto the liner wall from the lower edge portion 19 of the mounting plate.

The control box 6 is suitably Secured to the mounting plate 16 or more specifically to the rear face thereof by means of a plurality of screws 22 and the control shaft 10 extends through an aperture 23 provided in the mounting plate. A flange 24 surrounding the aperture 23 also prevents any mosture from flowing through the aperture 23 into the control box 6 or from dripping onto the control shaft 10.

In order to prevent any moisture collecting on the shoulder portion 24 formed between the main body portion of the cover plate and the rearwardly offset portion 21 from collecting and overflowing the flange 24, the main body portion of themounting plate is provided with an annular channel 27 which extends around-the fiange 24 and is such a depth that the bottom thereof is in a plane intermediate the plane of the main body portion and the plane of the offset portion 21. Thus any moisture tending to flow horizontally along the shoulders 24 will run into this channel section and will be conducted to the bottom portion of the mounting plate and from there to the liner wall 1.

To secure the mounting plate to the liner 1 there is employed a single screw 29 adjacent the bottom portion of. the mounting plate which together with the oset portion 21 extending through the upper portion of the opening 11 between the side edges 13 and 14 securely supports the mounting plate and the control box 6 Secured thereof in the proper position on the liner wall 1.

A passage for the control tube 8 extending from its connection with the bellows 7 into the interior of the storage compartment may also be provided in the liner wall 1 in the form of a recessed section 30 adjacent a side edge of the opening 11 for receiving the control tube 8 as it passes behind the mounting plate 16. For the purpose of holding the tube S within the recessed portion 3@ a suitable indentation or indented portion 31 may be provided in the adjacert portion of the mounting plate 16 which is adapted to engage the tube 8 and hold it in the recessed portion 30.

While there has been shown and described as specific embodiment of the present invention, it is not desired that it be limited to the particular Construction shown and described and is intended by the appended claim to cover all modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention. e

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

A mounting plate for mounting a control box between the liner and onter wall of a refrgerator cabinet and for supporting said box on the liner, said plate comprising a main body portion having an aperture thei-ein, means for mounting said control box on said plate behind said aperture with the control shaft extending through said aperture, said main body portion adapted to close a substantially rectangular opening provided in said liner and including side and bottom edge portions overlapping the side and bottom edges of said opening an upper rearwardly otsct portion of substantially the same width as said opening adapted to extend through said opening in overlapping engagement with the rcar surface of said liner along the upper edge of said opening, a flange surrounding said aperture in said main body portion and extending forwardly therefrom a distance somewhat greater than the thickness of said liner, a channel in said main body portion extending around said flange with the bottom thereof in a plane intermediate the plane of said main body portion and said oset portion, said fiange, and channel rearwardly oset portion preventing moisture on the inner side of said liner from entering said control box.

Newman Sept. 1, 1942 Eck Mar. 1, 1955 

